Nature and the heartless teenage girl

Poor dying squirrel.  My vacations usually include camping. However, camping in national parks has become a bit of a disappointment as of late causing me to change my vacation plans recently as I no longer enjoy sharing my personal vacation time with the normal national park visitors. I have learned that most of the visitors aren’t really there to enjoy camping and nature. Most are there to party with friends or are children dragged along by parents wanting to expose them to what is expected to be seen during childhood, whether they like it or not. Sitting in my campsite, I have seen children with fishing poles hanging the baited hook into squirrel holes, waiting to see if they “catch” a squirrel, with parents sitting in their own campsite unaware or even uninterested in what their children are doing.

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My most recent experience was waking one morning to my husband telling my young child about the squirrel he had been observing next to our campsite this morning who seemed to have been hurt and was obviously in pain, probably dying.  I could hear the concern in my child’s voice and she was wondering how to care for this squirrel, hoping to help it in some way.

A while later, a mother and her daughter walked by and discussed the dying squirrel, the girl displayed some care, stating she might want to bury the squirrel.

Moments after this, a younger sister of this family walked up with a stick to poke and prod this hurt squirrel. She was about six years old and this seems to be a common behavior between children and dead animals. However, her mother scolded her and told her the squirrel was dirty and do not touch.

This girl returned a while later with a boy a few years older, both with their necessary sticks. They began poking and prodding, turning the squirrel over, the boy ready to reach out and grab the squirrel. As the squirrel was not yet dead, and obviously in much pain, I felt it necessary to say something to help the poor squirrel die in peace. I also found it difficult to watch as this was directly in front of our campsite where my young son was viewing this behavior as well. I asked could the children leave the poor squirrel alone because he was sick and in pain, it probably didn’t feel good for him to be poked at with a stick.

The boy found it very difficult to listen to us. He returned several times with more poking attempts. His mother scolded him to wash his hands, do not touch. There was no mention of the squirrel in pain, however. Just the basic worry about the boy getting disease or dirty from the animal.

After several attempts, we could no longer take watching this so my husband gave a more stern scolding to the child telling him to leave the squirrel alone.  He must have informed his family of this as the boy returned with a teenaged sister, her stick, and another older girl (possibly his mother, although she looked about 22, so I am unsure) and her stick. They seemed to feel a need to insert their authority over their boy’s behavior and obviously did not appreciate us telling him anything. So the teenager began poking the squirrel and picked it up by its arm, letting it hang four feet above the ground. He was still alive mind you, but barely hanging on.  I could not keep quiet and had to say something to this girl. I asked her “don’t you care that this squirrel is hurt and is dying?” She said, “I have no heart.”  My husband told them that he hoped they would get the privilege of having a dying squirrel in front of their campsite next time so that they can enjoy poking it and stabbing it to death all they want! That eventually sent them away.

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I found it deeply disturbing and could not get past my anger about this for several hours. I wondered  – why is the family there? What made them choose a camping vacation if they do not appreciate nature?

I understand that many people see squirrels as rodents, or do not care about animals in general in the same way as I do. I am not an overly fanatical animal lover and I do not belong to any activist groups. I do, however, respect nature and care deeply about the balance of nature and the gifts that mother nature provides. That is why I choose to camp for my vacations.

My frustration with this situation was this: This girl was a teenager. She should know right from wrong by this age and have some empathy for this living creature. Since she didn’t, it was a sad realization that there is nothing I can do to change it and that there are so many others who are the same as her. Her parents might also be the same and she probably learned from them everything she knows. Are there people like her everywhere? How will we ever learn to love and care for one another when there is this attitude and mindset in many of the teenagers growing up today? I know not all teenagers are like her, but I do know there are many. What does it take to teach the basic common value of caring and loving other living creatures if your parents don’t care about them?

This raises so many other questions and so many thoughts I will have to write about another day.

a squirrel